Some Holiday Stitchin'

Now that the holiday hoopla has started to die down, I've been able to pull out an old Christmas project and do a little bit of "fun" stitching.
Last year I purchased the set of Prairie Schooler "12 Days of Christmas" patterns and wanted to work them all as one piece. Here's what I've got done thus far:

Instead of cross stitching them, I'm mainly doing basketweave stitches with 4 ply DMC floss on 18 ct. sandstone mono canvas(for a slightly antiquey look). And wherever I can add some fun/easy alternate stitches - like Smyrnas, or diagonal satin stitch or long stitches - I'll do so, to add a bit of unexpected texture to the overall piece. And I'm also going to add small gold beads to all the Santa's coats when I've stitched everything, just to add a bit more sparkle and dimension... Here's the FIRST design up-close, so you can see the few stitch changes I've made:

I've left the numbers unstitched so far, because I don't know what color I want them to be -- dark brown? gold metallic? dark red? I can't decide, so I'll leave them undone until inspiration strikes...

And I've started on the second row of Santas this week. I hope I'll be able to breeze thru a few more of them before "work" stitching beckons and I have to put these Santas back in the closet...

I hope you're all enjoying the "after-Christmas" glow and have snatched some quiet time to do some stitching on a favorite project. It's time to clear the decks and get ready for the New Year, isn't it? Time to start thinking about starting some new and exciting projects, don't you think?

A Prairie Hymn

Like so many of you stitchers, I adore all of the Prairie Schooler designs, and have many of them in my stash. I am drawn not only to their folk art simplicity, but also to their graphic style - which may appear simple, but to me is very elegant and sophisticated. It seems to me, Prairie Schooler patterns are absolute CLASSICS. And by this I mean they stand the test of time. Whether viewed new today, or ten years later, they still delight the eye and are a pleasure to look at - as well as being really fun to stitch, with their limited color palettes and full stitches.

I wanted to share with you one of my favorite designs: these four birds from Prairie Schooler. Instead of stitching them separately on pillows, I wanted to stitch them vertically like a bell pull. But when I finished stitching them I decided not to make a bell pull, but rather, set them in a long frame.

I stitched it on a pale green 18 ct. Davosa fabric, using my Over-One-Tent-Stitch so that it stitched up quicker than cross stitch. Anyway, I love it. And have it hanging in my living room, where I look at it every day....and never get tired of it!

And like many of you, I have a stack of Prairie Schooler patterns that I WILL GET STITCHED (well, that's my plan, and I'm sticking to it).....But even if I just pull them out now and again, and just look through them, they make me happy. And they inspire me to keep stitching - on whatever it is I'm currently working on - so I can (one day) start stitching on yet another Prairie Schooler classic!